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My boot wont open manually or automatically

SimonG

SimonG

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Location
Maidstone, Kent
Car
Accord 2.2iCTDI 2004
I cant open my tourer boot, I think it is more than just being iced up.

I went to use my car on Saturday for the first time since the snow, I opened the boot and went to get something but the gas struts couldn’t support the boot lid and it fell shut. After that I havent been able to open it despite having tipped hot water round the sides of the boot lid. When I now drive the car I have the 'TAIL GATE' light lit up all the time so the car thinks it is open.

Pressing the boot button on my key doesn’t even cause any beeps or flashes now.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is something in the locking mechanism broken or jammed? Any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks,
Simon
 
it will be teh microswitch inside the lock mechanism. It happened to me and I stripped it down , cleaned it up, bent the contacts to make a firmer contact and re-***embled. took ~ 1 hour.

To get in to it on the inside of teh tailgate about where teh number plate is there is a small panel that pops out, behind it is a mechanical release.

Ian
 
Simon said:
I cant open my tourer boot, I think it is more than just being iced up.

I went to use my car on Saturday for the first time since the snow, I opened the boot and went to get something but the gas struts couldn’t support the boot lid and it fell shut. After that I havent been able to open it despite having tipped hot water round the sides of the boot lid. When I now drive the car I have the 'TAIL GATE' light lit up all the time so the car thinks it is open.

Pressing the boot button on my key doesn’t even cause any beeps or flashes now.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is something in the locking mechanism broken or jammed? Any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks,
Simon
Click to expand...

dependant on age there is a warranty extension on tourer tailgate faults... control unit, struts and motor. worth an ask at your local dealer buddy
 
Thanks for the tip, I hadnt realised there was a manual release, I will see if that works (that will entirely rule out if ice is the problem).

Would I access this microswitch through the same panel or is it visible by the boot catch?
 
Disconnecting the battery for a few minutes has in the past reset something for me and it has then worked fine. I`ve had to do this twice now but if your struts are not supporting the tailgate then this may not help and you will have to replace the struts.
 
The microswitch/positional sensor is unfortunately deep inside the lock unit so you have to remove and dismantle the whole lock unit.

its not difficult if you take your time and are methodical ( take pictures as you go along so you remember how it all goes back together! ) I did mine in about an hour tops. In fact teh hardest bit for me was removing all teh trim to get to the bleeding thing! :D
 
Its about time I posted back about this. I disconnected the battery for 10 minutes and when I reconnected it it all worked fine, thanks davemazo. When it gets a bit warmer I will try cleaning the microswitch as well. Thanks for the tips.
 
I never did get round to cleaning the microswitch. The issue happened again today but this time it jammed open so that whenever I shut the boot it didnt 'catch' shut. I got the WD40 out but that didnt help, then I remembered this thread and I disconnected the battery for 5 minutes and now it works fine again. Really weird. I think it is just something I will have to remember for next time it happens, I will be keeping a 10mm spanner in the car from now on so that I can disconnect the battery easily.
 
entwisi said:
The microswitch/positional sensor is unfortunately deep inside the lock unit so you have to remove and dismantle the whole lock unit.

its not difficult if you take your time and are methodical ( take pictures as you go along so you remember how it all goes back together! ) I did mine in about an hour tops. In fact teh hardest bit for me was removing all teh trim to get to the bleeding thing! :D
Click to expand...


My tailgate packed in yesterday and I don't have any money so trying to fix it myself is the only option I have.

I've removed most of the trim but there are two plastic 'button' fasteners (one each side of the tailgate latch) at the bottom that I can't remove. I've managed to break a piece off one of them trying to pry it out :( . Can someone please tell me how to remove these ?
 
Have you tried disconnecting the battery to reset the boot
 
brett said:
Have you tried disconnecting the battery to reset the boot
Click to expand...

Hey mate, yes I have. I've tried it a couple of different ways (both terminals each time, leaving for anywhere between 5 minutes and 30 minutes.)

If I reset with the tailgate closed, the warning light goes away. When I try to lift the door from the keyfob, I get a long beep (as if the tailgate is going to lift) immediately followed by 3 short beeps - the tailgate times out and the warning light comes on.

I've tried manually opening the tailgate (from the inside) with the ignition on. Turning off the ignition and doing a reset. Reconnect battery and then ignition on, and then manually close the tailgate. Keyfob does nothing and there is no beep - warning light comes on.
Same procedure again and tried the tailgate close button (no beep, no operation) and the keyfob (no beep, no operation.) When I physically close the tailgate there is no 'bzzz-click' of the motor locking in the latch, the keyfob does nowt and warning light is on.

I've hosed out the latch with WD40, cleaned it with the wifes toothbrush and given it a liberal application of 3 in 1. I've had a good look around the edges of the tailgate to see if I managed to trap any gunk which may have affected the sensors.

Why oh why did they draw to the conclusion that there would never be a need to manually open the tailgate from the outside in the event of an electronic/electrical failure... damn.


On the upside, I have used the time I've been waiting for responses here to remove the satnav dvd rom which is giving me the ubiquitous disc read error, in order that I can try to clean the laser. Ironic really that this is another issue on the car that would really be a non-issue if it wasn't for the fact that I can't have full control over the stereo, the aircon or set the time/date without the satnav disc being successfully read. We ended up sticking a piece of black card over the screen that we can't turn off because it's so bright when night driving. I had to laugh.

I still love this car but I'm not loving this pulava. It's given me a stress headache.
 
My advice is get the dtc code read as these tailgates have there own ECU.There will probably be a code stored in the ECU to direct you to the problem.
This might be a new motor or ECU or a simple thing as a cable has broke.
 
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